Saturday, December 15, 2012

Michigan Gun Laws Moving in the Right Direction

The Michigan Senate on Wednesday rejected a National Rifle
Association-backed proposal to let people buy handguns through private
sales without undergoing criminal background checks.The Senate
instead voted 27-11 for a substitute proposal that makes it easier for
people to apply for gun permits but retains the checks.

The state
House voted in June for a bill to repeal the requirement to undergo a
check before buying a handgun. Federal law requires checks before buying
guns from licensed dealers but not for private sales. The House bill
also would have required police to discard their records of previous gun
purchase applications.

The Senate was poised to vote on the
House-passed bill Wednesday, but instead agreed on a voice vote to
consider a substitute that retained the pre-sale background check
provisions.

The Senate bill makes several steps to ease the gun purchase
application process in Michigan. Most notably, it eliminates the
requirement that people buying handguns from licensed dealers go through
state and federal background checks. Only people buying guns from
private individuals — about 48 percent of Michigan sales, according to
the mayors' group — would need the checks.

The bill also extends
the period for which a purchase license is valid from 10 days to 30
days. And it expands the locations at which people can obtain
applications to more police locations. People now must apply at the
police department in the place where they live, but the bill would let
them apply at any police agency.

I suppose you could say Michigan is moving in the right direction after all.